Mounds and Monoliths in Isthmo-Colombian Archaeology

Summary

This is an abstract from the "The Problem of the Monument: Widening Perspectives on Monumentality in the Archaeology of the Isthmo-Colombian Area" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The Isthmo-Colombian Area entails an archaeology of landscape engagement. Well-attested are the material traces of shifting networks of human ideas that, through communities of practice, led to the creation of monumental landscapes and, with regional specificity, shared forms of artistic expression, from parts of Honduras and El Salvador to Colombia from around AD 300. This paper focuses on two primary sources of material evidence: one is through landscape alteration practices (e.g., mounding, rock art creation, pathway maintenance) and another is through the widely attested selection of igneous stone as an artistic material to behold and work (e.g., naturally-shaped rocks, carving of stone sculpture, elaborate grinding stones). Archaeological studies elsewhere convincingly argue for the creation of social space and time by means of such practices, allowing for communal memory and understandings of relatedness or difference when travelling the land. While the emerging area-wide picture is discontinuous and marked by stylistic variation, the mentioned practices of mound-creation and working with volcanic stone seems to be a repetitive preference. A new research project, briefly introduced here, will attempt to study such patterns from an area-wide perspective and argue for seeing the creation of mounds and use of monoliths as a social technology.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• The Problem of the Monument: Widening Perspectives on Monumentality in the Archaeology of the Isthmo-Colombian Area   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 39973.0